This patch adds a daemon option, --dparam (-M), that lets you override
global/default items in the config file when starting the daemon up.

To use this patch, run these commands for a successful build:

    patch -p1 <patches/dparam.diff
    ./configure                               (optional if already run)
    make

based-on: 1ddcdaf3f6808ba53aef9e19f630a18808de22ac
diff --git a/clientserver.c b/clientserver.c
--- a/clientserver.c
+++ b/clientserver.c
@@ -1055,6 +1055,7 @@ int daemon_main(void)
 		fprintf(stderr, "Failed to parse config file: %s\n", config_file);
 		exit_cleanup(RERR_SYNTAX);
 	}
+	set_dparams(0);
 
 	if (no_detach)
 		create_pid_file();
diff --git a/loadparm.c b/loadparm.c
--- a/loadparm.c
+++ b/loadparm.c
@@ -49,6 +49,9 @@
 
 #include "rsync.h"
 #include "ifuncs.h"
+
+extern item_list dparam_list;
+
 #define PTR_DIFF(p1,p2) ((ptrdiff_t)(((char *)(p1)) - (char *)(p2)))
 #define strequal(a,b) (strcasecmp(a,b)==0)
 #define BOOLSTR(b) ((b) ? "Yes" : "No")
@@ -778,8 +781,11 @@ static BOOL do_section(char *sectionname)
    bRetval = False;
 
    /* if we were in a global section then do the local inits */
-   if (bInGlobalSection && !isglobal)
+   if (bInGlobalSection && !isglobal) {
+     if (!iNumServices)
+	set_dparams(0);
      init_locals();
+   }
 
    /* if we've just struck a global section, note the fact. */
    bInGlobalSection = isglobal;
@@ -842,6 +848,29 @@ BOOL lp_load(char *pszFname, int globals_only)
 	return (bRetval);
 }
 
+BOOL set_dparams(int syntax_check_only)
+{
+	char *equal, *val, **params = dparam_list.items;
+	unsigned j;
+
+	for (j = 0; j < dparam_list.count; j++) {
+		equal = strchr(params[j], '='); /* options.c verified this */
+		*equal = '\0';
+		if (syntax_check_only) {
+			if (map_parameter(params[j]) < 0) {
+				rprintf(FCLIENT, "Unknown parameter \"%s\"\n", params[j]);
+				*equal = '=';
+				return False;
+			}
+		} else {
+			for (val = equal+1; isSpace(val); val++) {}
+			do_parameter(params[j], val);
+		}
+		*equal = '=';
+	}
+
+	return True;
+}
 
 /***************************************************************************
 * return the max number of services
diff --git a/options.c b/options.c
--- a/options.c
+++ b/options.c
@@ -122,6 +122,7 @@ int inplace = 0;
 int delay_updates = 0;
 long block_size = 0; /* "long" because popt can't set an int32. */
 char *skip_compress = NULL;
+item_list dparam_list = EMPTY_ITEM_LIST;
 
 /** Network address family. **/
 int default_af_hint
@@ -651,6 +652,7 @@ static struct poptOption long_options[] = {
   /* All the following options switch us into daemon-mode option-parsing. */
   {"config",           0,  POPT_ARG_STRING, 0, OPT_DAEMON, 0, 0 },
   {"daemon",           0,  POPT_ARG_NONE,   0, OPT_DAEMON, 0, 0 },
+  {"dparam",           0,  POPT_ARG_STRING, 0, OPT_DAEMON, 0, 0 },
   {"detach",           0,  POPT_ARG_NONE,   0, OPT_DAEMON, 0, 0 },
   {"no-detach",        0,  POPT_ARG_NONE,   0, OPT_DAEMON, 0, 0 },
   {0,0,0,0, 0, 0, 0}
@@ -665,6 +667,7 @@ static void daemon_usage(enum logcode F)
   rprintf(F,"     --address=ADDRESS       bind to the specified address\n");
   rprintf(F,"     --bwlimit=KBPS          limit I/O bandwidth; KBytes per second\n");
   rprintf(F,"     --config=FILE           specify alternate rsyncd.conf file\n");
+  rprintf(F," -M, --dparam=OVERRIDE       override global daemon config parameter\n");
   rprintf(F,"     --no-detach             do not detach from the parent\n");
   rprintf(F,"     --port=PORT             listen on alternate port number\n");
   rprintf(F,"     --log-file=FILE         override the \"log file\" setting\n");
@@ -686,6 +689,7 @@ static struct poptOption long_daemon_options[] = {
   {"bwlimit",          0,  POPT_ARG_INT,    &daemon_bwlimit, 0, 0, 0 },
   {"config",           0,  POPT_ARG_STRING, &config_file, 0, 0, 0 },
   {"daemon",           0,  POPT_ARG_NONE,   &daemon_opt, 0, 0, 0 },
+  {"dparam",          'M', POPT_ARG_STRING, 0, 'M', 0, 0 },
   {"ipv4",            '4', POPT_ARG_VAL,    &default_af_hint, AF_INET, 0, 0 },
   {"ipv6",            '6', POPT_ARG_VAL,    &default_af_hint, AF_INET6, 0, 0 },
   {"detach",           0,  POPT_ARG_VAL,    &no_detach, 0, 0, 0 },
@@ -969,11 +973,24 @@ int parse_arguments(int *argc_p, const char ***argv_p)
 			pc = poptGetContext(RSYNC_NAME, argc, argv,
 					    long_daemon_options, 0);
 			while ((opt = poptGetNextOpt(pc)) != -1) {
+				char **cpp;
 				switch (opt) {
 				case 'h':
 					daemon_usage(FINFO);
 					exit_cleanup(0);
 
+				case 'M':
+					arg = poptGetOptArg(pc);
+					if (!strchr(arg, '=')) {
+						rprintf(FERROR,
+						    "--dparam value is missing an '=': %s\n",
+						    arg);
+						goto daemon_error;
+					}
+					cpp = EXPAND_ITEM_LIST(&dparam_list, char *, 4);
+					*cpp = strdup(arg);
+					break;
+
 				case 'v':
 					verbose++;
 					break;
@@ -987,6 +1004,9 @@ int parse_arguments(int *argc_p, const char ***argv_p)
 				}
 			}
 
+			if (dparam_list.count && !set_dparams(1))
+				exit_cleanup(RERR_SYNTAX);
+
 			if (tmpdir && strlen(tmpdir) >= MAXPATHLEN - 10) {
 				snprintf(err_buf, sizeof err_buf,
 					 "the --temp-dir path is WAY too long.\n");
diff --git a/rsync.yo b/rsync.yo
--- a/rsync.yo
+++ b/rsync.yo
@@ -439,6 +439,7 @@ accepted: verb(
      --address=ADDRESS       bind to the specified address
      --bwlimit=KBPS          limit I/O bandwidth; KBytes per second
      --config=FILE           specify alternate rsyncd.conf file
+ -M, --dparam=OVERRIDE       override global daemon config parameter
      --no-detach             do not detach from the parent
      --port=PORT             listen on alternate port number
      --log-file=FILE         override the "log file" setting
@@ -2242,6 +2243,14 @@ The default is /etc/rsyncd.conf unless the daemon is running over
 a remote shell program and the remote user is not the super-user; in that case
 the default is rsyncd.conf in the current directory (typically $HOME).
 
+dit(bf(-M, --dparam=OVERRIDE)) This option can be used to set a daemon-config
+parameter when starting up rsync in daemon mode.  It is equivalent to adding
+the parameter at the end of the global settings prior to the first module's
+definition.  The parameter names can be specified without spaces, if you so
+desire.  For instance:
+
+verb(    rsync --daemon -M pidfile=/path/rsync.pid )
+
 dit(bf(--no-detach)) When running as a daemon, this option instructs
 rsync to not detach itself and become a background process.  This
 option is required when running as a service on Cygwin, and may also
diff --git a/rsyncd.conf.yo b/rsyncd.conf.yo
--- a/rsyncd.conf.yo
+++ b/rsyncd.conf.yo
@@ -83,10 +83,14 @@ dit(bf(motd file)) This parameter allows you to specify a
 "message of the day" to display to clients on each connect. This
 usually contains site information and any legal notices. The default
 is no motd file.
+This can be overridden by the bf(--dparam=motdfile=FILE)
+command-line option when starting the daemon.
 
 dit(bf(pid file)) This parameter tells the rsync daemon to write
 its process ID to that file.  If the file already exists, the rsync
 daemon will abort rather than overwrite the file.
+This can be overridden by the bf(--dparam=pidfile=FILE)
+command-line option when starting the daemon.
 
 dit(bf(port)) You can override the default port the daemon will listen on
 by specifying this value (defaults to 873).  This is ignored if the daemon
@@ -260,6 +264,12 @@ If the daemon fails to open the specified file, it will fall back to
 using syslog and output an error about the failure.  (Note that the
 failure to open the specified log file used to be a fatal error.)
 
+This setting can be overridden by using the bf(--log-file=FILE) or
+bf(--dparam=logfile=FILE) command-line options.  The former overrides
+all the log-file parameters of the daemon and all module settings.
+The latter sets the daemon's log file and the default for all the
+modules, which still allows modules to override the default setting.
+
 dit(bf(syslog facility)) This parameter allows you to
 specify the syslog facility name to use when logging messages from the
 rsync daemon. You may use any standard syslog facility name which is
diff -up a/proto.h b/proto.h
--- a/proto.h
+++ b/proto.h
@@ -224,6 +224,7 @@ BOOL lp_transfer_logging(int module_id);
 BOOL lp_use_chroot(int module_id);
 BOOL lp_write_only(int module_id);
 BOOL lp_load(char *pszFname, int globals_only);
+BOOL set_dparams(int syntax_check_only);
 int lp_numservices(void);
 int lp_number(char *name);
 void log_init(int restart);
diff -up a/rsync.1 b/rsync.1
--- a/rsync.1
+++ b/rsync.1
@@ -518,6 +518,7 @@ accepted:
      \-\-address=ADDRESS       bind to the specified address
      \-\-bwlimit=KBPS          limit I/O bandwidth; KBytes per second
      \-\-config=FILE           specify alternate rsyncd.conf file
+ \-M, \-\-dparam=OVERRIDE       override global daemon config parameter
      \-\-no\-detach             do not detach from the parent
      \-\-port=PORT             listen on alternate port number
      \-\-log\-file=FILE         override the \(dq\&log file\(dq\& setting
@@ -2570,6 +2571,18 @@ The default is /etc/rsyncd.conf unless t
 a remote shell program and the remote user is not the super\-user; in that case
 the default is rsyncd.conf in the current directory (typically $HOME).
 .IP 
+.IP "\fB\-M, \-\-dparam=OVERRIDE\fP"
+This option can be used to set a daemon\-config
+parameter when starting up rsync in daemon mode.  It is equivalent to adding
+the parameter at the end of the global settings prior to the first module\(cq\&s
+definition.  The parameter names can be specified without spaces, if you so
+desire.  For instance:
+.IP 
+.nf 
+    rsync \-\-daemon \-M pidfile=/path/rsync.pid 
+.fi 
+
+.IP 
 .IP "\fB\-\-no\-detach\fP"
 When running as a daemon, this option instructs
 rsync to not detach itself and become a background process.  This
diff -up a/rsyncd.conf.5 b/rsyncd.conf.5
--- a/rsyncd.conf.5
+++ b/rsyncd.conf.5
@@ -94,11 +94,15 @@ This parameter allows you to specify a
 \(dq\&message of the day\(dq\& to display to clients on each connect. This
 usually contains site information and any legal notices. The default
 is no motd file.
+This can be overridden by the \fB\-\-dparam=motdfile=FILE\fP
+command\-line option when starting the daemon.
 .IP 
 .IP "\fBpid file\fP"
 This parameter tells the rsync daemon to write
 its process ID to that file.  If the file already exists, the rsync
 daemon will abort rather than overwrite the file.
+This can be overridden by the \fB\-\-dparam=pidfile=FILE\fP
+command\-line option when starting the daemon.
 .IP 
 .IP "\fBport\fP"
 You can override the default port the daemon will listen on
@@ -293,6 +297,12 @@ If the daemon fails to open the specifie
 using syslog and output an error about the failure.  (Note that the
 failure to open the specified log file used to be a fatal error.)
 .IP 
+This setting can be overridden by using the \fB\-\-log\-file=FILE\fP or
+\fB\-\-dparam=logfile=FILE\fP command\-line options.  The former overrides
+all the log\-file parameters of the daemon and all module settings.
+The latter sets the daemon\(cq\&s log file and the default for all the
+modules, which still allows modules to override the default setting.
+.IP 
 .IP "\fBsyslog facility\fP"
 This parameter allows you to
 specify the syslog facility name to use when logging messages from the
